Hardware Store All-Stars: Neb., Nev. and N.H.

Continuing the alphabetical, coast-to-coast rundown of high-performing American hardware stores, here are three distinguished dealers from Nebraska, Nevada and New Hampshire:

• Nebraska Q.P. Ace Hardware
With deep roots in the Lincoln community, Q.P. Ace Hardware has four locations. You can get a free bag of popcorn at any one of them. Founded in 1966, the business was handed down to Doug and Lisa Long in 1999, son-in-law and daughter of the founders.

• NevadaAce Hardware
In Las Vegas, the sibling team of Tadami Kamitaki and his sister Matsuko Mizoguchi came to hardware retailing through an unconventional route. In 1951 they opened a crafts store in Kahului, Maui, called Ben Franklin. Now their children run the operation, which includes 24 hardware stores (three in Nevada, one in Oregon, eight in Washington and 12 back in Hawaii. They’re still in the crafts business with six Ben Franklin stores and have managed to combine the two (hardware and crafts) in two locations.

• New Hampshire Perras Ace Hardware
Perras Ace Hardware was the first Ace dealer in New Hampshire when it opened its doors as Perras Lumber in 1980. Twenty-one years later, the Perras family decided to split the operation into two businesses, retail and wholesale, and Perras Ace Hardware was born. Open seven days a week, the Lancaster, N.H., home center has a separate gift and party supplies store on the property, as well as a full LBM offering. This past winter, the company used its Facebook page to keep snowbound customers apprised of any incoming shipments of roof rakes.

Next week, read our all-star profiles of retailers from New Jersey, New Mexico and New York. For the full article, as it appeared in the May issue of Home Channel News, register online to read here.